How do we all spend our time? Brits spend 2 hours a day watching TV but just 20 minutes keeping fit

PUTNEY, U.K. - July 6, 2023 - PRLog -- A new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed in fascinating detail how we all spent our days during March, and a leading testing expert says it's not healthy! Brits spend two hours a day watching TV and over 45 minutes surfing computers and devices, but just 20 minutes on fitness activities, which is less than we did at the height of Covid.

Compared to their behaviour at the height of Covid, the report reveals people spend nearly an hour less time relaxing but still enjoy 223 minutes (over three and a half hours) of entertainment, socialising and general free time a day. Most of this time is spent watching television (two hours and 16 minutes) and socialising (33 minutes).

Dr Avinash Hari Narayanan (MBChB), Clinical Lead at London Medical Laboratory, says: 'Looking at a typical day for an average Brit, things don't look too healthy. As well as being fairly sedentary in our leisure time, we are also too shattered by jobs and chores to exercise. That's because those people who go out to work spend 422 minutes (seven hours) away from home, including a gruelling 95.2 minutes (over one and a half hours) simply travelling. When we get home, no wonder our instinct is to crash out.

'Stay-at-home parents don't have things much easier. They spend 134 minutes a day (two and a quarter hours) in concentrated childcare activities, while people who don't go out to work also spend 170.7 minutes a day (almost three hours) on household work such as cleaning.

'With all this in mind, who can blame us for skipping healthy exercise activities? However, spending a woeful 20.4 minutes a day on sports and exercise is not great. That 20 minutes mean average amounts to less time spent exercising than at the height of Covid. In March 2020, just as the pandemic began to impact, Brits spent 19.8 minutes a day exercising. By March 2021, that had climbed to half an hour a day. However, that tumbled back to 20.4 minutes this March. Over a three-year period, people are back where they started.

'Our increasingly sedentary lifestyles will leave us with health problems. Inactivity results in fatty material building up in our arteries, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. LML's General Health Profile blood test (https://www.londonmedicallaboratory.com/product/general-h...) provides a comprehensive check-up of general health, including diabetes (HbA1c), gout, liver & kidney function, bone health, iron levels and a full cholesterol profile. It can be taken at home through the post, or at one of the many drop-in clinics that offer these tests across London and nationwide in over 95 selected pharmacies and health stores.